Quoting VibroCount:

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If he does not think that referring to the Democratic Party at the "Democrat" Party is insulting, than he is far less informed than he purports. It is an insult, started by neocon pundits, which has infected the worst aspect of the Republican Pary. These posts are insulting to all Democrats (members and supporters of the Democratic Party) and particularly to me.

I will admit that I did not know it was an insult.  I figured it was just another 'Skipo'.  Would you be so kind, in PMs if you like, as to explain to me how dropping the 'ic' is insulting?

For the record, I am registered as 'non-partisan' because I prefer to vote the issues and not the party.

A simple Google of "Democrat Party" reveals:

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Democrat Party is a political epithet used in the United States by some conservative commentators and by some members of the Republican Party in speeches and press releases instead of the name (or more precisely, the proper noun) Democratic Party.

Many members of the Democratic Party object to the term. New Yorker commentator Hendrik Hertzberg wrote: "There’s no great mystery about the motives behind this deliberate misnaming. 'Democrat Party' is a slur, or intended to be - a handy way to express contempt. Aesthetic judgments are subjective, of course, but 'Democrat Party' is jarring verging on ugly. It fairly screams 'rat.'"

...

"Democrat Party" has been used from time to time by opponents of the Democratic Party and sometimes by others. The earliest known use of the term, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, was by a London stock-market analyst, who wrote in 1890, "Whether a little farmer from South Carolina named Tillman is going to rule the Democrat Party in America - yet it is this, and not output, on which the proximate value of silver depends." The term was used by Herbert Hoover in 1932, and in the late 1930s by Republicans who used it to criticize Democratic big city machines run by powerful political bosses in what they considered undemocratic fashion. Republican leader Harold Stassen said in 1940, "I emphasized that the party controlled in large measure at that time by Hague in New Jersey, Pendergast in Missouri and Kelly-Nash in Chicago should not be called a 'Democratic Party.' It should be called the 'Democrat Party.'"

The noun-as-adjective has been used by Republican leaders since the 1940s and appears in some GOP national platforms since 1948. In 1947, Republican leader Senator Robert A. Taft said, "Nor can we expect any other policy from any Democrat Party or any Democrat President under present day conditions. They can not possibly win an election solely through the support of the solid South, and yet their political strategists believe the Southern Democrat Party will not break away no matter how radical the allies imposed upon it." President Dwight D. Eisenhower used the term in his acceptance speech in 1952 and in partisan speeches to Republican groups. Ruth Walker notes how Joseph McCarthy repeatedly used the phrase "the Democrat Party," and critics argue that if McCarthy used the term in the 1950s, then no one else should do so.

...

The Republican Party Web site makes extensive use of the term, although "Democratic Party" is used more often. The White House since 2001 has often used the noun-as-adjective when referring to the opposition party, and President Bush has used it almost exclusively. Likewise, it is in common use by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Senator Charles Grassley, Congressman Steve Buyer, and others. George W. Bush spoke of the "Democrat majority" in his 2007 State of the Union Address. The advance copy that was given to members of Congress read "Democratic majority." Bush joked about his leadership of the "Republic Party" the following month.

Quoting Unicus69:

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Quoting VibroCount:

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A simple Google of "Democrat Party" reveals:

Thanks.  I don't know why I didn't think about looking it up. 

That's okay. I enjoyed looking it up, and learning a bit more of the history of the epithet. 

Quoting kahless:

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Quoting skipnet50:
Don't get me started, I don't want to discuss politics. And this is not the place, here I try to have fun whenever I can and decompress.It consumes much of my life especially now during the silly season.

FULL ACK, this is not the place here! But somebody has to "pull the emergency brake" and stop this useless discussion before it escalates. IMHO Ken should use his option to close threads.

Political discussions should be banned from the forums by adjusting the forum rules!

SCNR!

Well, I don't think so. Just because we share the hobby of collectiong DVDs, that does not necessarily mean to leave all non DVD related trains of thought outside these forums. And frankly, what better people to engage in a discussion with than those you share some common ground with?

Quoting VibroCount:

Quote:
Skip knows that I am a local leader with the Democratic Party here in California, that I am a registered lobbyist, and that there are laws with my name as author. If he does not think that referring to the Democratic Party at the "Democrat" Party is insulting, than he is far less informed than he purports. It is an insult, started by neocon pundits, which has infected the worst aspect of the Republican Pary. These posts are insulting to all Democrats (members and supporters of the Democratic Party) and particularly to me.

This is offensive not just to my party, but to the two-party system.



Ken or Gerri, please lock this insult bearing thread down.

I don't intend to interfere on something that might be way too localized (US compared to Germany, that is) for me to understand, but if the shortening of a a certain verbiage carries insult, it surely is a well known fact among the "normal" (i.e. unpolitical = not organized in a party) citizens to pass as a "normal" election process snide remark.

If I'm mistaken and this abbreviation carries more weight, please enlighten me, as I'm always curious to learn more, especially about the US political system.

EDIT: I just read yourexcerpt from Wikipedia. To me, it sounds like nothing different from the day to day bickering political parties in Germany have to put up with. To me it sounds like someone trying to divert attention from substantial points of discussion (which, IMO, the Democratic (or Democrats) could argue very wellagainst the Rebublicans) toward a completely irrelevant field of attention.

Well excuuuse me, Cliff. I don't CARE what you party affiliation is nor that you are a leader. Youur behavior smacks of exactly the problem with politics in DC these days. And yes the Democrat party is very intolerant and has taken us down a road I don't like to see us heading down. They have done it incrementally, you know about frogs don't you, Cliff. I suggest a little more study of your party and its racist past, and the purpose for the LBJ welfare programs.

How typical that a member of your party would claim that a someone expressing his opinion is offensive. That in and of itself is offensive. How dare you.

Skip

Quoting VibroCount:

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For Skip to claim that he is a Washinton DC insider, while he is delivering a Republican viewpoint, and use this term as he does so, either means that he was deliberately being insulting, or he has no knowledge of this insult and therefore he is not any kind of Washington insider at all. I leave the choice open.

I still take it as an insult.

As would many members of the Democratic Party.

I honestly don't see how it is offensive, as quite a few people I know often refer to themselves as 'Democrats'.  Maybe it's because I am literal and take words for what they actually mean. 

So....now I am not even allowed to express my displeasure if I am insulted or find something said to be absolutely outrageous. Somehow I am not surprised. Disappointed, but not at all surprised.

Skip